‘Blue’ in Blueberries Tied to BP Lowering that Rivals Medication

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‘Blue’ in Blueberries Tied to BP Lowering that Rivals Medication

Eating the equivalent of 100 grams of blueberries for 4 weeks, twice a day is associated with systolic blood pressure lowering that is equivalent to the effect of BP-lowering medications, new research suggests.

Investigators believe anthocyanins, compounds with antioxidant effects and the pigments that give red, purple, and blue plants their color, are responsible for this beneficial effect on the vascular system, improving endothelial function in as little as 2 weeks.

“Our research is the first study directly linking blueberry anthocyanin consumption and circulating anthocyanin metabolites to improvements in vascular function in a healthy population,” principal investigator Ana Rodriguez-Mateos, PhD, Department of Nutritional Sciences, School of Life Course Sciences at King’s College London, United Kingdom, told Medscape Medical News.

“However, further longer-term clinical studies in larger populations are needed to confirm whether our findings will translate to the general public,” she added.

The research, which was a combination of four smaller studies in men and one study in animals, was published online February 16 in The Journals of Gerontology: Series A.